Stu/D/O Architects takes you Nowhere, because you’re already there

November 05, 2017

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Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou

bangkok – Stu/D/O Architects was faced with a challenging brief when the owners of a rooftop bar and restaurant on Ekkamai Road came to them with the simple expression, ‘No/Where but Now/Here’ as the starting point for the design. To translate this into a design concept, the architects transform the idea of ‘nowhere’ into a dramatic visual statement through the use of stairs.

While stairs are a rather basic architectural element, Stu/D/O takes inspiration from Escher’s drawings of seemingly endless stairways, using steps and platforms to distort space and function in the Nowhere restaurant.

The stairs at Nowhere are stairs to nowhere. Instead of leading to other levels, they horizontally connect the different spaces and functions of the restaurant with each other. In two continuous loops of varying heights and lengths, the structure emerges gradually and takes the shape of seating, counters, and tables.

Following the space from floor to ceiling, the stairs fade up through an opening on the restaurant’s roof, leaving the visitor with the impression of vanishing to nowhere.